We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan

Nicu has emigrated from Romania and is struggling to find his place in his new home. Meanwhile, Jess's home life is overshadowed by violence. When Nicu and Jess meet, what starts out as friendship grows into romance as the two bond over their painful pasts and hopeful futures. But will they be able to save each other, let alone themselves?

So.  I did really like this book and I rattled through it in a morning.  I'm not saying I didn't like it.

I don't really know why this didn't blow me away *quite* as much as Sarah Crossan's other books.  It had excellent writing (free verse, which, as I've mentioned before, I don't like as a rule, but with Sarah Crossan's writing it just really, really works), it's UKYA, slow-burn romance and massive social issues (racism, bullying, domestic violence, child abuse), but it didn't leave me bug-eyed and gasping for breath like the author's other books do.  The only reason I can come up with  is that she collaborated with another author, so I wasn't getting pure, unadulterated Sarah Crossan.

Still.  Please don't think that this wasn't a good book.  It really was.  I loved the characters, who were very real and human in their failings and I loved the situation, which was horrific and something I didn't think the authors would be able to write their way out of.

And they kind of do and kind of don't .  One thing I've found about Sarah Crossan's books is that she never gives a neatly-wrapped ending, because her stories are about life, and life doesn't have neatly-wrapped endings.

In conclusion, this was a good book.  Really good.  not my favourite Sarah Crossan book, but still a country mile better than a lot of other books out there.

4 stars